FIA will not scrap the fuel flow rule

F1’s governing body has ruled out scrapping the new rule limiting fuel flow.

With Red Bull already appealing its Daniel Ricciardo disqualification and then encountering more problems with the new mandatory Gill sensor in Malaysia, team boss Christian Horner has called on the FIA to simply scrap the rule. “F1 is a sport and when technology becomes too prevalent and confuses fans and teams it is not good,” he said at Sepang. Horner added that, with all the millions at stake in F1, it is “not good enough” for a misbehaving sensor to be causing so much trouble. He proposes F1 should simply “get rid of” the 100 kilogram per hour rule, and with it the troublesome and expensive sensors.

The FIA, however, insists it will not be going down that path. In a complex media briefing at Sepang, the federation’s engine expert Fabrice Lom said getting rid of the sensors would be “dangerous”. Auto Motor und Sport quotes him as saying that, without the fuel flow limit, the new turbo V6 engines would be capable of up to 2000 horse power. “Some cars would start the race at full power and then slow down and save fuel,” said Lom, “while others would do it the other way around. “It would result in huge speed differences at any one time, which is far too dangerous.”

For now, the bottom line is that if Red Bull behaves just as it did in Melbourne two weeks ago, a RB10 driven by Ricciardo or world champion Sebastian Vettel could once again be disqualified hours after the race. “Hopefully it (the Gill sensor) will behave for the rest of the weekend,” Horner said at Sepang. “If it doesn’t then we will find ourselves in an awkward situation.”